Integrated circuits are becoming increasingly complex. These complex integrated circuits may include thousands or millions of interconnects that serve to connect thousands or millions of electronic components located on or etched into the integrated circuit. The interconnects may serve to transmit different electronic signals including DC voltages and high frequency signals throughout the integrated circuit. Due to the small size of the interconnects and their close proximity to one another, their physical dimensions significantly affect their electrical properties. These affects become more pronounced when the interconnects are used to transmit high frequency signals.
Fabricating a very large quantity of such integrated circuits may be relatively inexpensive. However, the individual costs of fabricating a small number of complex integrated circuits tends to be very expensive. Furthermore, changing the design of an integrated circuit is very expensive and time consuming. Accordingly, it tends to be very expensive and time consuming to fabricate a small number of integrated circuits for testing, then change their design and fabricate a second small number of integrated circuits for further testing.
In order to reduce the cost of designing and redesigning integrated circuits, the integrated circuits can be simulated by a computer program. This simulation may involve entering the physical characteristics of the interconnects along with the components of the integrated circuit into a computer program. The computer program may then simulate and analyze the integrated circuit. If the integrated circuit needs to be modified and retested, it may be done simply by editing the computer program.
The computer program may take a long time to accurately analyze a complex integrated circuit. For example, many integrated circuits operate at high frequencies. Thus, the electrical properties, such as inductance and capacitance, associated with each interconnect becomes very relevant. In order to accurately analyze the circuit, each interconnect may have to be analyzed in great detail. When the computer program analyzes each interconnect in great detail, the time required to run the analysis increases significantly.